Another Republican Nazi, haven't we had enough of this yet? - Auto-Trend Repairs and Service Information Forums

Shawnee_B · FAR BEYOND DRIVEN

RE: Another Republican Nazi, haven't we had enough of this yet?

Shawnee_B · FAR BEYOND DRIVEN

Powerstroke. You can also make some fun things. I made this firecracker cannon for a lady, got $600. Featured on ray vin cannon site. I made it from 1.25 brass so you can tell the scale. Made everything except the screws, springs and grow the wood. Breach was spring loaded opening, elevation adjustable of course.

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Shawnee_B · FAR BEYOND DRIVEN

Another fun project there Powerstroker. Made from a mobile axel. Fits a beer or pop can full of sand perfectly. 80 grains black powder gives 100 yard range or so, 240 grains puts them in orbit. Windage, elevation adjustable. Sold it, well traded for an 1897 Winchester 12 ga for cowboy shooting.

PowerStroker · UNSTOPPABLE!

Wow that looks like fun, and I like the detail on that little cannon you made. Aside from the fittings I have made some tools for myself - usually seal drivers and such. I don't mass produce those though because there isn't enough of a market for them. Plus programming is tedious so I generally only write a program if I think I'm going to sell at least a hundred parts from it. When I make special tools for myself I usually don't program anything, I just do it in jog mode and use the joystick on the machine.

Maybe someday I'll have a CNC mill, but right now I don't have the space, or a plan for its use.

Shawnee_B · FAR BEYOND DRIVEN

PowerStroker wrote:
Wow that looks like fun, and I like the detail on that little cannon you made. Aside from the fittings I have made some tools for myself - usually seal drivers and such. I don't mass produce those though because there isn't enough of a market for them. Plus programming is tedious so I generally only write a program if I think I'm going to sell at least a hundred parts from it. When I make special tools for myself I usually don't program anything, I just do it in jog mode and use the joystick on the machine.

Maybe someday I'll have a CNC mill, but right now I don't have the space, or a plan for its use.

Oh yes, lots of fun. I had a mini mill and lathe (HF/Grizzly) they worked well. A big knee mill and an old South Bend 10x24 lathe. Also a full knifemaking shop and gunsmith MFG shop. Made a good living off both for decades. I was a firearms dealer, manufacturer and a class 2 SOT meaning I could make full auto firearms (LE and military only), silencers, short barrels etc. Good time was had by all.

The little lathe was pretty handy. I lived northern Maine 11 years. Once a plow truck was down, simple piece in the head. I made it for them, back on the road very quickly. That's a rewarding feeling.

I understand the needing to sell 100 pieces at least. I have never been on CNC but ran some pretty large lathes. Joystick, how cool is that! What brand CNC lathe do you have? I would love another mill and lathe, someday soon I hope.

PowerStroker · UNSTOPPABLE!

Mine is an Omniturn GT75. Here is a video of me running a standard "screw machine" operation, which means the same part repeatedly without having to load material each time. In this case it's done by through-chucking a long bar of material (304 stainless), and using a bar puller routine in sequence with the automatic collet chuck to feed and position the bar to the correct stickout before clamping the collet down and starting the process. Here I'm doing the first operation of some internally threaded stainless weld fittings. these are single point threaded into a blind hole.

Before I got the CNC I did this kind of stuff on a customized Grizzly G0602 by hand. What used to take 12 minutes and a lot of work, now takes about 2.5 minutes and it's effortless.

On edit... The second one is effortless, the first one takes hours of programming and setup. Each movement or function of the machine is a separate line of code I had to write.

-- Edited by PowerStroker on Thursday 3rd of May 2018 11:22:39 PM

SELLC · CERTIFIED POST WHORE

And here I was thinking I was big stuff for putting in a Heli-Coil not long ago...

That's very impressive, the hardware, the skill and the end product! You're going to be a full on machine shop before long!

You're bringing back my faith in American ingenuity! Both PowerStroker and Stan are living the state of the art American dream!

Don't forget me when you guys become billionaires!

PowerStroker · UNSTOPPABLE!

Thanks Rex, but really I'm a tiny operation working out of my garage. There are CNC machine shops everywhere that can do far more complex things than me. It's more of a self-supporting hobby in my case that usually nets me a little "fun" money by the end of the year after expenses. I still have my day job as a Ford dealer tech which is my main source of income.

SELLC · CERTIFIED POST WHORE

There was another tiny operation that was working out of a garage,

They aren't working out of a garage anymore... but it just goes to show!

I work out of my garage, no shame.

The success of a business boils down these three things

1. Being able to pay the employees a good wage - AND pay yourself a good annual wage.

2. Being able to pay the bills - and if possible buy real estate rather than rent because this is VERY important.

3. Offer your customer a product or service that exceeds their expectations at a fair price and consistently.

If you even have $1 in profit after these three things - you are a successful business.

Remember that!

SELLC · CERTIFIED POST WHORE

Shawnee_B wrote:
Powerstroke. You can also make some fun things. I made this firecracker cannon for a lady, got $600. Featured on ray vin cannon site. I made it from 1.25 brass so you can tell the scale. Made everything except the screws, springs and grow the wood. Breach was spring loaded opening, elevation adjustable of course.

.

I too really dig these firecracker cannons! I am so lucky I didn't have one of these as a kid or I would have been in some serious trouble!

I'd imagine they would sell well for conversation pieces, on the desk or mantle...

Shawnee_B · FAR BEYOND DRIVEN

PowerStroker wrote:
Mine is an Omniturn GT75. Here is a video of me running a standard "screw machine" operation, which means the same part repeatedly without having to load material each time. In this case it's done by through-chucking a long bar of material (304 stainless), and using a bar puller routine in sequence with the automatic collet chuck to feed and position the bar to the correct stickout before clamping the collet down and starting the process. Here I'm doing the first operation of some internally threaded stainless weld fittings. these are single point threaded into a blind hole.
Before I got the CNC I did this kind of stuff on a customized Grizzly G0602 by hand. What used to take 12 minutes and a lot of work, now takes about 2.5 minutes and it's effortless.
On edit... The second one is effortless, the first one takes hours of programming and setup. Each movement or function of the machine is a separate line of code I had to write.

Powerstoker, damn that is awesome! Thanks for sharing. I never seen anything work like that!

-- Edited by PowerStroker on Thursday 3rd of May 2018 11:22:39 PM

Shawnee_B · FAR BEYOND DRIVEN

SELLC wrote:
Shawnee_B wrote:
Powerstroke. You can also make some fun things. I made this firecracker cannon for a lady, got $600. Featured on ray vin cannon site. I made it from 1.25 brass so you can tell the scale. Made everything except the screws, springs and grow the wood. Breach was spring loaded opening, elevation adjustable of course.

.

I too really dig these firecracker cannons! I am so lucky I didn't have one of these as a kid or I would have been in some serious trouble!
I'd imagine they would sell well for conversation pieces, on the desk or mantle...

When I was a kid in CT there were no firecrackers. Dad has his Sis in KA send me out a brick, cool! He made me a firecracker cannon that shot marbles. Told me just don't shoot the garage door. Ray vin cannon site has some cool ones.

8th grade we went on a school trip to Boston. I got one of those little brass barrel cast carriage cannons like on a ship. Bored halfway. I asked for a reversable variable speed drill for Xmas. Got it, drilled it out and could hit a matchbook at 10 feet biggrin